The UK's Northern Secretary has indicated that voters in the North may be forced into TWO Assembly elections within weeks of each other.

James Brokenshire says if a first election doesn't result in a new executive being formed, he must call another one after two weeks.

The House of Commons has today heard that the collapse of the assembly means Northern Ireland can't pass laws to get out of welfare reforms imposed by Westminster.

And the Northern Secretary says one snap election could quickly lead to another:

The comments came as senior politicians in the North warned that the power-sharing institutions may collapse entirely.

Sinn Fein and the DUP have each accused the other of forcing the collapse of the current executive. Unionist leaders now say power-sharing is "half dead" - while Sinn Féin says it won't work in any administration that doesn't honour the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.

Though the latest crisis has been precipitated by the DUP's stance over the "cash for ash" scandal, there are other contributing factors - including anger over NAMA's sale of Project Eagle, and the scrapping of a £50,000 fund to help underprivileged children visit Gaeltacht areas.

Veteran observers believe the lack of trust between Sinn Féin and the DUP is now so entrenched that it may be impossible for the two to share power again - leading to the possibility that, if those two parties retain their status as the biggest in Stormont, power-sharing may be scrapped and lead to direct rule from London.

This would bring its own complications at a time when the Brexit process is about to get underway, and with the UK's Supreme Court shortly to rule on whether the devolved assemblies of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales should have a role in the process.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly reports: